All Creatures Great and Small is not merely about a family. The books by James Herriot – in real life, the vet Alf Wight - and the TV series are the embodiment of a sense of family and a love of landscape. A new book Celebrating All Creatures Great and Small - For the Love of the Yorkshire Dales, reviewed in this month's Yorkshire Life magazine, does exactly what it says on the cover with photographs of James Herriot’s much-loved landscape and stories of people – real and fictional – embedded in this beloved stories of a vet’s life.
The stories written by Alf Wight fictionalised his working life as Thirsk-based vet and his James Herriot became a household name. The BBC series of All Creatures was first broadcast in 1978 with its cast of Christopher Timothy as James, Robert Hardy as Siegfried, Peter Davison as Tristan, Carol Drinkwater and then the late Lynda Bellingham as Helen. Alf Wight, who invented probably the world's most famous vet.
(Image: TWOJH) All Creatures Great and Small appealed to all ages, young and old. Brian Percival was one of them and is one of the directors of the current adaptation. Sir Colin Callender – the CEO of Playground, the production company behind the series – was another.
He remembers how it made him feel when the idea for this new version came along. ‘I thought we could bring this back to life,’ says Sir Colin, ‘and entertain in the way that the BBC series had done, but for a contemporary audience. Ben Vanstone was appointe.
